Vehicles of UNIFIL patrol in Marjeyoun in southern Lebanon on October 11, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Hezbollah and Israel. Photo: AFP

EU nations with peacekeepers in Lebanon reportedly expressed "the shared will to exert maximum political and diplomatic pressure" on Israel over attacks against UN mission. 

US media reported on Wednesday local time that Italy and France had organized a video conference among the 16 EU countries that participate in UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL,) where defense ministers "strongly condemned" attacks the mission has blamed on Israel, the Italian defense ministry said in a statement.

The EU nations with peacekeepers in Lebanon have expressed "the shared will to exert maximum political and diplomatic pressure on Israel" to prevent further "incidents" against the UN mission. 

Since September 23, the Israeli army has been launching an unprecedented, intensive air attack on Lebanon, dubbed "Arrows of the North," in a dangerous escalation with Hezbollah, according to Xinhua. 

UNIFIL said on Wednesday that its peacekeepers near southern Lebanon's Kfar Kila observed an Israeli Merkava tank "firing at their watchtower," adding that "two cameras were destroyed, and the tower was damaged." The UN peacekeepers said that the attack by the Israeli forces was "direct and apparently deliberate," Al Jazeera reported on Wednesday.

The maximum pressure exerted by the EU nations on Israel is unlikely to constitute substantial pressure, though following economic sanctions cannot be ruled out, Liu Zhongmin, a professor at the Middle East Studies Institute of Shanghai International Studies University, told the Global Times.

Liu noted that although the US has differences with Israel on specific issues, in practice, it provides firm support to Israel in terms of equipment and military aid, citing the Pentagon's latest authorization of the deployment of a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, or THAAD, missile battery and its associated US military crew to Israel as an example. 

The standoff between UN peacekeeping forces and Israel is expected to continue for some time, said the expert.